The subject invention relates to a method and apparatus for storing information and controlling access to that information. More particularly, it relates to a method and apparatus for securely storing information of a sensitive character, such as medical histories, and controlling access to that information so as to limit access to persons or organizations which are authorized access.
The subject invention relates to the field of, and may contain elements of disclosure similar to elements disclosed in commonly assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/810,057 by: Melvin J. Scolnick, for: KEY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM FOR USE WITH SMART CARD (attorney doc. E-595) filed on even date herewith.
Social, economic, and technical changes have combined to substantially reduce the role played by the family doctor; the general practitioner who provided most of a patient's care over a substantial period of time, and who was an effective custodian of the patient's medical records. As medical practice shifts from the traditional fee-for-service basis to HMO's and "networks" of physicians and competition between these organizations grows ever more intense, employee/patients change or lose their jobs and thus change or loose their access to particular health care organizations, and both business and recreational travel continue to increase, it becomes increasingly less effective to rely upon a family doctor as the custodian of a patient's medical records. For these and other reasons there has been a long felt need for a mechanism whereby appropriate medical personal can quickly access a patient's medical records.
One approach to this problem has been to propose systems where a third party would maintain a database of medical records which could be accessed from remote terminals located in physician's offices, hospitals and the like. Such systems are proposed, for example in U.S. Pat. No. 5,325,294 to: Keene, for: Medical Privacy System, issued: Jun. 28, 1994 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,301,105 to: Cummings, Jr., for: All Care Health Management System, issued: Apr. 5, 1994.
While such systems may prove adequate to disseminate medical records it is apparent that they suffer from the problems common to all large database systems. The party charged with maintaining such a database must have the capability to assure the accuracy of the information in the database and that the information is updated in a timely manner, provide security for the system, assure that authorized users can access the system in a timely manner, and, most importantly, assure that access is limited to authorized users. As a result there is a reluctance to entrust sensitive data to a single, or a small number of, databases; particularly where information is as sensitive as that contained in medical records.
The converse to the central database approach is for each patient to carry his or her own medical records. In its simplest form this approach involves dog tags or bracelets worn by the patient, which identify the patient's blood type, allergies, or the like. While this approach is effective for limited information, such as blood type, clearly the vast majority of patients would not willingly wear or carry something which identified them as HIV positive or having Hansen's disease.
One approach to overcoming this problem is proposed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,499,293 to: Behram et al., for: Privacy Protected Information Medium Using a Data Compression Method, issued Mar. 12, 1996. Behram et al. discloses a system where medical information is recorded in compressed form on a card carried by a patient. The compression algorithm used both reduces the amount of storage needed on the card and makes access to the information difficult for a person who does not have access to a special dictionary to decompress the information. While this may alleviate storage requirements, the problem of maintaining confidentiality of the medical records stored on the card remains, since, if the needed dictionary is widely distributed, a lost or stolen card can easily be accessed, while if the distribution of the dictionary is tightly controlled the card may fail of its purpose. Further, even if the patient is somehow provided with a password or key necessary to access the card, the card may still fail of its purpose if the patient is unconscious or otherwise unable to provide the password or key.
Thus, it is an object of the subject invention to provide a method and apparatus for storing information such as medical records in a manner which is secure against unauthorized access yet widely and readily accessible by authorized persons or organizations.